DBA 3.0 armies, projects and campaigns set in the ancient, medieval and fantasy periods.

Saturday, 22 October 2016

Severan Rome vs. the Caledonian

Historically, the campaign against the Caledonian was to be Emperor Severus’s final one and they like the emperor pass away into history. Future military operations in Northern Britain would have to contend with the more aggressive Picts.

Rome met the Caledonian army crossing
the fields which dotted the valley floor. Deployed in the standard fashion,
heavy infantry in centre flanked by auxilia and cavalry in reserve, they
remained in position awaiting the Caledonian rush.

On the given signal, Rome
moved forward, the infantry line opening their left to allow the reserve
cavalry to attack two warband columns.

The slaughter was immense as
the valley floor was littered with nearly half the Caledonian army. Score 0 – 5 for Rome.

Game two

The following battlefield had
similar characteristics as the previous, difficult hills and a few grain fields
which allowed the Roman army to deploy in an extended formation. Adding units
of cavalry in the first line the Roman army dwarfed the Caledonia thought they
had equal numbers.

Wheeling to the right, the
Roman line easily overlapped the Caledonian dense formations.

The auxilia were able to
contain two dense columns of warband while the heavy infantry made short work
of crushing several smaller formations creating large gaps in the Caledonian
battle line. This gave the Roman cavalry an opportunity to flank a number of
warband and chariot units including the general’s. Score 1 – 6 (g) for Rome.

Game three

Difficult hills now lined one
side of the battlefield and it was here that most of the Caledonian infantry
were deployed leaving the open ground for the chariots and light troops.

The Caledonian plan was to
sweep the hills clear of Roman auxilia and flank the Roman heavy infantry while
the chariots would keep the remaining Roman troops occupied. The fields were
sodden from a heavy downpour which would create problems for the Roman right
wing.

Unfortunately, the Caledonian lacked the stamina to clear the hills of auxilia giving the Roman heavy infantry
supported by the reserve cavalry time to break up their centre formations. Score 0 – 4 for Rome.